Almost Love | Natasha Romanoff - Discontinued

not so happy endings

hi so i have decided to officially discontinue this story. i really love rhea and nat but i just never planned out a solid plot or storyline and it just isn't a story that i can be motivated to create or write, i have a lot of other ideas that are a lot more fleshed out and detailed then this one. i really really really love rhea and nats book, it was the first one i ever tried to write, it was the one that helped me become more secure in my love for other women, and it was a way to grieve a character i had loved as a child. but i don't want to do it the discredit of writing their story and it not turn out like the very unrealistic faint daydream of an idea. i know a lot of you really do love this book, so i will keep it up, and, something that i wish all authors with discontinued stories would do, i will give you guys all of my ideas and little snippets i have thought up. so without further ado - let's finish this story together...

- first of all: sam steve and wanda would go and try to take down some new villain (never did flesh that out) and nat would stay with rhea to protect her.
- they would bond and grow close, eventually getting together.
- it would all be very domestic.
- they would open a safe house/resting place for all our hero's
- clint, vision, and tony would make appearances to their little safe house.
- infinity war happens, nat leaves rhea at home to keep her safe, very heartfelt goodbye, everyone is dusted and rhea is all alone.
- rheas mom would be dusted, nat returns home, they move into the compound so nat can continue to lead what is left of avengers, a small jump skip.
- one year later they adopted a little girl who's parents were dusted.
- they go over to tony and peppers house a lot, morgan and nadia are around the same age, tony and rhea bond, its not the same with nat and tony, but they try...
- it would be revealed when the avengers around this time that rheas dad was a big part of shield and is buddies with fury, he has been throwing himself into gathering spy intel and doing fury's work after rheas mom is dusted.
- avengers endgame starts, and the quest to retire balance begins.
- rhea is very supportive of whatever nat feels is right, even with the fact that nadia's birth parents might come back and want her.

funnily enough, i wrote the end of rhea and nats story first. so sadly nadia didn't ever get to meet nat in this version of the end :(

ending chapter would have looked like this, set during the mission to retrieve the stones across time:

The anxiety tugged at her stomach. The wondering. The guilt of not going with Nat. Of not being able to protect her even if she never needed her protection. All Rhea wanted was for the love of her life in her arms again and to start something precious, a family.

The machine whirled to life once more and there they were. The Earths mightiest hero's. Safe and sound and carrying the fate of the universe in six little stones.

Rhea felt herself surge forward, feet pounding against the glass stairs and onto the platform. She saw that faces of her friends, family she has come to know. But there were no triumphant smiles or cheers. Instead, sad eyes and bowed heads.

Something was wrong. So terribly wrong. Rhea's ears were ringing the tugging in her gut was all to real. She forgot how to breathe when Steve places a gentle hand on her shoulder.

She could see Clint sink to his knees, sobbing. That reaction could only be caused by one person. This wasn't real. It was a sick, twisted game from Thanos. She was captured or lost or something. But not dead. Natasha had promised that she would come back to her. She never lied to Rhea.

They would build a life, in English countryside. They would give a loving home to two little girls. And they would be happy. It would be a peaceful life. A dream.

Then it suddenly turned into a nightmare. Two little words broke Rhea's soul. She's dead. Nat was never coming back. Her mangled, broken body laying at the bottom of a cliff. It was too much. Knowing that all of their lasts would really truly be their finals. Final kiss. Final smile. Final Sunday in bed. Final words.

The scream that followed was filled with all of their broken possibilities. The Greeks would have called it death from heartbreak. Because if Nat was gone, what was it all worth? Why keep living in a world empty of her goodness, her smile, her voice. What was the world without Natasha Romanoff? And how could Rhea ever live in that dead world?

Steve took into his arms and tried to console her, knowing it was hopeless. The grief stricken woman rocked back and forth, clutching herself.

- rhea would never recover from losing nat, she was the love of her life.
- nadia's birth parent would be a teen girl who would have given her up for adoption, but it is still very much an open adoption and she has a relationship with nadia.
- rhea goes home, she doesn't teach anymore but she does wright books.
- rhea and pepper open up a foundation for trafficked women and girls in nats name.
- rhea never met nats other family, but she heard stories, though she never reached out. she didn't really feel like it was her place, and it was mainly because she didn't want nadia anywhere near the life that took nat away from her.
- yelena does come and watch rhea pick nadia up from school one day after months of searching for anything to do with nat. it took a while because nat always made sure that no one found the family she made on her own.
- yelena doesn't talk to either of them, but checks in occasionally to make sure they are happy. she takes up nats role in the safety plan, watching out for them as a tribute to her sister.
- sam and pepper sometimes stop by but that's the only connection she really has to the period of her life with nat in it.
- she raises nadia in her childhood home, and tells her stories of her mama, making sure she knows that she is protected and loved so much from above.
- rhea got to have that great adventure and nat loved rhea for the rest of her life, it was just too short, and it was unfair and cruel and sad, but rhea would do it over and over and over again because she finally was able to love someone with her entire being - twice. she had everything she ever wanted for a while, a family, a child laughing and playing in the yard and a wife who kissed her cheek as they drank their coffee in the morning. all rhea really wanted was an experience like no other, and she realized that nats yearning for a peaceful life, was the adventure she wanted all along. rhea and nat would settle for the time they did get, but they almost had love forever.

almost.
love,

-romanxoffs